Judge Accepted For Alcohol Program

Superior Court Judge E. Curtissa R. Cofield stood in a cramped courtroom Monday and apologized for sideswiping a state police car with her BMW in October, an accident police say was caused by drunken driving.

Within minutes, the hearing at Superior Court in Manchester was finished and Cofield was accepted into an alcohol-education program. If she successfully completes it, the charges - driving under the influence and failure to drive in the proper lane - will be dismissed. Her next court date is Dec. 11, 2009.

About 10:45 p.m. on Oct. 9, Cofield, 60, was driving through a highway construction zone on Route 2 in Glastonbury when her car sideswiped a parked state police cruiser occupied by Trooper Michael Kowal. Prosecutor John Whalen, of the chief state's attorney's office, said the judge's eyes were bloodshot and she smelled of alcohol. Urine samples showed her blood alcohol content was 0.16 at 1 a.m. on Oct. 10 and 0.17 at 2:04 a.m., he said - twice the legal limit of 0.08.

Whalen told Judge William Bright Jr. that Kowal, who was behind the wheel at the time of the crash, was experiencing pain in one of his arms as a result. "An MRI Friday was inconclusive," Whalen said. "They are hoping for soft tissue damage only."

Kowal has returned to work, a state police spokesman said.

While Kowal wasn't in court Monday, Whalen said the trooper "continues his objection [to Cofield's application for the program] but he will respect the court's opinion."

Bright said Cofield should be held to the same standards, no higher or lower, as anyone else. He also said that Kowal's injury does not seem serious.

Bright made only an indirect reference to claims that Cofield, who is black, made racist comments to state troopers and Glastonbury officers at the time of her arrest. Bright said the proceedings before him dealt only with Cofield's actions that relate to the alcohol-education program application.

Sources told The Courant that Cofield referred to a black state police sergeant who responded to the scene as "Negro Washington." When an officer asked if she was suffering from an ailment, she said she had "Negro-itis," a source said.

Outside court, Cofield's lawyer, James Sulick, would not address that issue.

In court, he referred to Cofield's life as "exemplary," and said even the Hartford Police Department wrote a letter of support.

Cofield, who was appointed to the bench in 1991, has to attend either 15 sessions of the alcohol-eduction program or a weekend-long session. Bright also instructed her to attend a "victim impact panel," in which speakers talk about how drunken driving affected their lives.

She also has to pay a $500 fee.

Before she apologized, Cofield said she was doing so against the advice of her attorney.

"My comment is that I'm sincerely sorry," Cofield told the court. She apologized to "the community, my friends, most especially my family, my colleagues on the bench and to the trooper."

Except for a brief report released Oct. 10 by the Troop H barracks of the state police, there is no public information about the accident or what transpired afterward.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell declined comment on Monday's court action. Her press secretary, Chris Cooper, also declined comment when asked if Rell believes the public should be able to see the video of Cofield being booked at the Glastonbury Police Department.

Cooper noted that Rell said Nov. 25 that Cofield should be treated "like any other citizen - and that includes the police department policy on the video."

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